Hey guys, this is my first time grow and I made my own small grow box for my seedlings and early vegging. I plan to plant outside in the first week of June! How does my grow box look and any advice for changes? Right now I have one fan and 4x 150w Daylight CFLS. Should I have an intake and outtake fan for a small grow like this? They will only be in this box for a couple weeks. So far 11 seeds have sprouted but nothing yet from the others... I was hoping to have atleast 5 females in the end outdoors. Some have been germinating for nearly a week. Also 2 seedlings have leaves that have curled a bit but the others are fine, is there something I can do to fix this? [IMG]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160517/4d35d4e39346e79bae576f3037adb66b.jpg[/IMG]
Nice little custom set up Cheeba. I like it a lot! Everything's looking good, seedlings are doing fine. I would raise the tray a little to get those lights close enough to be nearly touching the plastic. With CFL's of that size, a couple inches can mean 500 lumens or 2500 lumens.
Are you gonna be making a bigger box for later on when you flower or keeping this one? If so you might wanna cut down on numbers when you know the sex or it'll become a cluttered mess.
Thanks Bunks! I will raise the plants so they're closer to the light. I did have the lights hanging closer, but then I installed the power bar. Jackeman, I do keep the box closed for 90% of the time, it gets fairly warm in there but not hot. Should I have and output fan? Brown6064 - I will not be building a bigger box as I plan to plant them outside in the first week of June. Many of them have not sprouted, so I'll likely throw some out in the next week. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
they need fresh air but i was just curious aboot the temps as cardboard holds the heat pretty good. wish i could do an outdoor grow, best of luck to ya
Thanks man! Yeah the temps are very warm but not too bad, I was thinking of cutting a hole behind the existing fan to draw in fresh air, and possibly a 2nd fan blowing out? I'm lucky to have some hidden property at a cottage Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Yep all you need is an intake and exhause fan. Looks pretty nice tho. I actually experienced some pretty bad heat issues with the 40 w cfls on seedling. Good luck man Stoners journey to cannabis
Be sure and let those rock wool cubes dry almost out before you give more pH'd water. It's super easy to get root rot with rock wool when starting seedlings. I hate the stuff and stopped using it. Switched to Rapid Rooter cubes...as they are antibacterial and prevent problems. But as long as your temps inside don't get above the mid 80's, they'll be OK. But light getting to them in addition to your CFLs isn't a problem, so if you have to, open up that box for some more ventilation if the heat gets to high in there. Good luck! You just can't beat the sun for your light source. Put them somewhere where they get all they can stand after you temper them slowly to pure sunlight. Tossing them into the heat of the day after being under CFLs will be too much, so gradually get them used to full sun by giving them a little at a time over 2 or 3 days. TWW
Thanks for the great advice Widow White! I will start putting them by the window for a couple hours a day to get used to the sun. Another thing though, a couple of the seedlings have a 2-3 inch taproot sticking out the bottom of the rockwool cube, is this okay until they go outside? Or should I plant the cube in a cup of soil? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Update: Cut a hole behind intake fan to bring in fresh air and added an exhaust fan. Temp is perfect now! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Put it in a cup with soil. You'll damage to roots if they dry out. The plant itself won't die, but you'll stress it out pretty good. Make sure you use the same soil as its permanent container whether that be a bucket or the ground. When you acclimate your plants outside, make sure you start in the mornings or late afternoon when it's the coolest out for a few hours a day. Slowly increase the time outdoors every day for a few days like white widow stated earlier. I usually don't do it but my temps are a little higher than yours. I do however do it with my vegetable garden.
take that lid off and keep it off now, they want to be a inch away from the light, start light root stim in about two weeks, always worked for me ☺